Cross country training, the promise of spring & a snowy surprise

While the Beast from the East is but a memory now, you’ll still find traces of his visit in the fields and on the side of the road as you drive along the A39, only they’re looking more like cement, a murky brown, or more like mud actually. And we wonder if he’ll ever visit again? We promised T that next time we’d be ready and buy a sled if we see one on sale, although I honestly doubt if this rare occurrence will happen again… but you’ll never know and it’s best to be prepared next time.

T together with some of her friends and other schoolmates will be doing the cross-country run together with other schools this Friday. We’ve been helping her “train”… I’m using the word “train” really lightly here, because it’s nothing hardcore at all. The Historian does run with her when he has the time, but since he had a lecture in Exeter last Saturday, T was stuck with her mum who has a weak knee and so I just walked behind her.

We were doing rather well. She’d run ahead of me and I’d walk briskly behind her. Admiring the promise of spring – the daffodils were out again. Before the Beast’s visit, lovely Spring flowers were slowly coming out and then they were blanketed with a thick layer of snow. It’s nice to see them out again.

T ran past the small barn and into our neighbour’s farm. We’re lucky we have lovely neighbours who let us roam freely around their farm.

We passed the other outbuildings and still she kept running, occasionally checking whether her poor unexercised mum was still behind her.

And into the small woods, past up the hill and then that’s when she saw it.

I saw her stop on her tracks. She looked back at me and smiled and went for it.

T giggled as she got stuck in the thick snow. I was really amazed to find this much snow on the side of the lane. I’m sure it will melt soon especially since temperature has been slowly rising. I let her play in the snow for a while. After all thick snow is rare on our side of the UK especially in March, before reminding her to go back to running till at least the end of the lane and then she can play in the snow again.

After running around in circles and getting stuck in the snow, T and I decided that it was time to head back home…

Woweee! That was certainly a discovery of snow hidden away. Must have been a drift from across the fields protected by the hedgerow xBella at Dear Mummy Blog recently posted…Going wild at Little Africa, Paultons Park

“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.” - Isabelle Allende